OUR PEOPLE
“Unlike some in the industry, we don’t have a complex and mythical algorithm or suite of products; rather, our people and expertise are our value-add.”
They have been drawn from a diverse range of backgrounds, sharing a passion for delivering the highest level of professional service, and demonstrating the values of Mercury Private.
TIM EUSTACE – PRINCIPAL ADVISER
After graduating from the University of Canterbury (NZ) and being admitted to the Bar, Tim entered the stockbroking industry in 1984. After dealing in both gilts (bonds) and equities initially in Auckland and later with Hoare Govett in London, Tim began advising in Sydney in 1989, moving to Potter Warburg in 1997, before founding Grosvenor Financial Services in 2000. After Grosvenor was sold to ASX-listed Perpetual in 2009, Tim worked through an earn-out period before establishing Mercury Private in 2015. Tim holds a CFP and as part of a busy professional life sits as a Trustee on a number of charitable trusts.
MARGARET BLUNDEN – CHIEF EXECUTIVE OFFICER
Margaret is a qualified Chartered Accountant and started her career in KPMG Sydney and Toronto. Margaret then moved to the banking and finance industry in late 1980’s and has over 30 years of extensive financial services experience including operations, risk management, private wealth management, client service, mergers and acquisitions, business integrations, transformation and change management. Before joining Grosvenor Financial Services in 2008 as the CEO, Margaret had run large global operations teams for the Commonwealth Bank’s Global Market Operations and CommSec Operations. Margaret also had experience as a Board member on various boards including the Australian Financial Operations Association, Newington College Foundation and Australian Ice Racing (a National Sporting Organisation of a Winter Olympic Sport). She has completed the Company Directors Course with the Australian Institute of Company Directors and she is also a Justice of Peace.
ANNA-LUCIA MACKAY - CHAIR, BOARD OF ADVICE
Anna-Lucia joined the Mercury Private Board of Advice as Chairperson in July 2015 and prior to Mercury Private, worked with Grosvenor Financial Services for over ten years. Anna-Lucia is a highly acclaimed educator, writer and consultant in the fields of Leadership, Business and Emotional Intelligence. Educated in the United Kingdom, Middle East and Australia, over the last 25 years she has consulted, trained and spoken to many of the world’s leading corporations. Today she is a Moderator at Harvard Business School (Pub) in the fields of Strategy, Leadership and Communications, and works with their corporate clients based in the Asia Pacific Region and the Middle East. Anna-Lucia is the bestselling author of “The Four Mindsets – How to Influence, Motivate and Lead a High-Performance Team” (Wiley 2015) – which is now sold in over 30 countries and translated into Arabic in 2019. In 2012 she was recognised for her work, as a finalist for The Telstra Business Woman of the year Awards and in 2021 was appointed Judge in the Innovation and Entrepreneurship category for Telstra's Best of Business Awards in Australia. Anna-Lucia serves as a Board Chair for various corporate organisations.
DAVID HAINTZ - MEMBER, BOARD OF ADVICE
David joined the Mercury Private Board of Advice in Jan 2021. David is a CFP and a past director of the Financial Planning Association of Australia (FPA), in which time he was instrumental in the push for professionalism. He has had a 26 year career with his own firm, and subsequently became a founding director of Shadforth Financial Group, with over 100 advisers; which was taken over in 2014 for $670m - at the time $13b FUM, $165m revenue, and $58m EBIT. David was the sixth adviser in Australia to be awarded a Fellow of the FPA and served on the FPA Disciplinary Committee for seven years, the FPA Professionalism Committee for six years and was a National Judge at the FPA’s inaugural Value of Advice Awards. He is a founding trustee of the Future2Foundation, lectured at the FINSIA for six years and has been a member of the international Financial Planning Standards Board – Developing Markets Practice Management Working Group. He has presented at international conventions such as the UK Institute of Financial Planning and the South African Institute of Financial Planning conferences; in 2017 had consulting engagements in 18 countries including diverse locations such as the UAE, Germany, India
and Norway. David remains the only adviser in Australia to be awarded the two prominent awards - Australian Financial Planner of the Year (2005) and Australian Best Practice of the Year (2004).
SAM BEASLEY – MEMBER, BOARD OF ADVICE
Sam Beasley joined the Mercury Private Board of Advice in July 2015, and is an experienced business management consultant, business owner, chairman, board member and performance evaluator of numerous SMEs, professional firms and government organisations. Sam has extensive experience and interest in financial performance, monitoring and management and the development of strategic business plans. With extensive exposure to all aspects of business management including reviewing and developing governance and management structures, implementing remuneration schemes, introducing entry and exit models, Sam has spent decades mentoring and coaching Board members, CEOs and senior staff.
MONICA THOMPSON – CHIEF INVESTMENT OFFICER
After starting her career in London as an assistant economist for Bank of Tokyo in 1986, Monica moved to Sun Life Investment Management to work as an investment analyst and fund manager. During her career at Sun Life, Monica was instrumental in creating the strategy for smaller companies and managed the Sun Life UK Smaller Companies valued at GBP300m. Post AXA’s acquisition of Sun Life, Monica advised and managed 10 offshore and onshore unit trusts valued GBP500M. Following her move to Sydney in 2000, Monica worked with MLC and assisted with the launch of MLC Implemented Consulting. Monica joined Grosvenor Financial Services in 2004 as an investment manager responsible for asset allocation, researching equities, property (including unlisted property and AREITs) and structured products. Monica brings over 25 years of experience in the financial markets of London and Sydney in joining Mercury Private.
HONGDI LIU – INVESTMENT MANAGER
Hongdi joined Mercury Private in October 2018. Before joining Mercury Private, Hongdi worked at ANZ Wealth conducting manager research and sector reviews for the approved product list. Hongdi also spent time at specialist multi-asset investment firm, Atrium Investment Management, where he held responsibilities across a range of areas that included asset allocation, return forecasting, manager research, research of Australian listed companies, and trading the inhouse multi-asset portfolio. Prior to Atrium, Hongdi worked as an Equities Research Analyst at Wallara, a boutique Australian Equities firm based in Melbourne. Hongdi has undergraduate degrees in Science and Engineering (Hons) from the University of Sydney, and completed the Master of Applied Finance program from Macquarie University. Hongdi is also a CFA® charterholder.
ANDREW BARROS – HEAD OF CLIENT MANAGEMENT AND INVESTMENT ADVICE
Andrew’s experience in the wealth management industry spans back to 2005, following an education at universities in both Australia and Europe. Andrew has been with Mercury Private since its establishment and has a deep understanding of our client needs, with client relationships and key staff engagements that extend as far back as 2005. Andrew chairs the Mercury Private Investment Committee and, as Head of Client Management and Investment Advice, is tasked with ensuring the successful implementation of advice originating from our Research team into client portfolios, as well as leading and overseeing the Mercury Private Advisory team’s underlying client management strategies and direction.
DAVID WILSON – SENIOR CLIENT ADVISER
Dave began his career in the finance industry in the UK, joining a boutique financial advisory firm in 2000. Having obtained his Financial Planning Certificates, David spent two years with Ernst & Young Financial Management as a technical adviser for a client base of high net worth individuals. David moved to Australia in 2004 and joined Grosvenor Financial Services. Since 2009, in his capacity as Adviser, David has been assisting clients and their families to identify their financial goals and objectives and putting in place the most appropriate strategies to help them to achieve those goals. David’s qualifications include the Advanced Diploma of Financial Planning and Diploma of Finance and Mortgage Broking Management, and he has also completed the ACS Accredited Aged Care Professional program.
GARTH CECIL – SENIOR CLIENT ADVISER
Garth graduated from La Trobe University with a Bachelor of Finance and Bachelor of Accounting and, before pursuing wealth management, held roles in consulting, and fraud prevention at one of the major banks. Prior to joining Mercury Private in 2017, Garth was an adviser with a private wealth firm in Melbourne where his role focussed on portfolio analysis and design, as well as sitting on the firm’s investment committee. Garth enjoys utilising balance sheet focussed strategies and structuring to ensure that clients’ wealth is housed and grown safely, tax effectively, and in a manner that facilitates effective intergenerational transfer.
WINNIE BUTT – SENIOR CLIENT ADVISER
Winnie brings nearly two decades of wealth management experience to Mercury Private. Since 2004, Winnie has worked with high net worth, ultra-high net worth clients and not-for-profit organizations.
Winnie started her career at Mercer Australia before moving to Perpetual where she led a national Paraplanning team and served on the Trustee Investment Committee. Winnie then joined Grosvenor Financial Services in 2010 as an Adviser and was involved in Mercury Private’s formative years before moving to San Francisco in 2017.
In San Francisco, Winnie held senior advisory roles at Cerity Partners and Summitry, two wealth management firms ranked in the top 2% of independent financial advisers in the United States.
Winnie re-joined Mercury Private in 2023 as a Senior Client Adviser and is responsible for partnering with a select group of clients to help them protect and grow their wealth for current and future generations. Winnie is also a part of Mercury Private’s business strategy team, which focuses on the continuous improvement and delivery of services to clients.
Winnie graduated in 2004 from Macquarie University with a Bachelor’s degree in Economics. She is a CFA® charterholder, CERTIFIED FINANCIAL PLANNERTM (United States) and holds an Advanced Diploma of Financial Planning (Australia).
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KAPIL MISTRY – CLIENT ADVISER
During the completion of his Bachelor of Commerce degree at the University of New South Wales, Kapil worked at a boutique financial advisory firm focussing on advising clients with Self-Managed Super Funds where he developed extensive knowledge in wealth planning, superannuation, and risk protection. Since graduating and joining Mercury Private, Kapil now builds and implements individually tailored strategies to assist high-net-worth clients attain their financial goals and objectives. Kapil has also completed his Advanced Diploma of Financial Planning.
AARON CALDWELL – CLIENT ADVISER
Prior to joining Mercury Private in 2019, Aaron began his career at a boutique financial advisory firm in Sydney where he assisted a team of advisers with strategy planning and advice implementation. With over 6 years of experience in the wealth management industry, he enjoys working closely with a range of clients, helping them to navigate their financial decision-making and putting them on the right path toward their long-term financial objectives. Aaron holds a Bachelor of Commerce, majoring in Financial Planning from the University of Wollongong, and is currently undertaking a Master of Financial Planning with Kaplan and his Certified Financial Planning (CFP) designation.
KUNAL GUPTA – TAX and ACCOUNTING MANAGER
Kunal is a Certified Practising Accountant (CPA) and Registered Tax Agent with over 10 years' experience in tax and accounting. Prior to joining Mercury Private, Kunal has held several tax and accounting roles for boutique and top mid-tier accounting firms. Enjoying a wide range of industry experience working with small to large businesses, Kunal is well versed in areas of Income Tax, Goods and Services Tax, Fringe Benefits Tax, Superannuation, Indirect Taxes and R&D Tax Incentive. He has a practical approach to his work and is focused on developing strong relationships with clients and working jointly with key parties to provide a high level of service.
MANDA PAUL – TAX and ACCOUNTING SUPERVISOR
Manda joined the Mercury Private team in August 2021 and has over 17 years of experience in the chartered accountancy field. She is a qualified CPA and Tax Agent with immense experience in all aspects of Income Tax, Goods and Services Tax, Fringe Benefits Tax, and Superannuation. Manda has an appreciation for cultivating strong business relationships, where she can better serve the needs of clients and add value in a focused and proactive way.
KEVIN CHOI – PORTFOLIO MANAGER
Kevin Choi is the portfolio administration team leader who has 10 years of operations experience in the wealth management industry and previously worked at Grosvenor, Perpetual and The Trustee Company. Kevin holds a Bachelor of Commerce, majoring in Accounting and Finance from The Australian National University.